Note
Sondheim’s song I Know Things Now (from Into the Woods) seems to me to be largely about how it’s possible for memory to work against one’s own interests by repressing, distorting, and finally replacing itself with false versions.
In my paraphrase, a new harmonic skeleton (rising open 5ths) generates a churning, refracted version of the original song’s melody; we hear the process of questioning and defamiliarizing one’s own memories. In the absence of lyrics, the music is imbued with the underlying weight and meaning of what is, in its surface qualities, a rather lighthearted song.
Listen
Timo Andres: Nice is Different Than Good
recorded home, June 2019
performers Timo Andres, piano
Purchase
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Nice is Different Than Good score, print edition
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Nice is Different Than Good score, PDF edition
9 pages, 9×12 format.
